Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)

I got that same reply from the Minister of State approximately 12 months ago and it is the same reply he gave four years ago. He has not answered my question which asked what he is doing to curb house price rises. I do not want to know, nor did I ask, how many houses were built last year. I did not ask him how many affordable houses were built, but he gave me those statistics.

What is the Minister of State doing to curb house price increases? When Fianna Fáil came into power in 1997, the price of an average house in this State was approximately €100,000. House prices are now more than €280,000 State wide or approximately €380,000 in this city. Is the Minister aware that communities throughout this city are being decimated by the huge movement of young people who cannot afford to buy houses in this city to places as far away as Cavan and Monaghan? He is doing nothing about it. Does the Minister accept there is an affordability problem? Does he accept that his constituents face that problem every day? They cannot buy houses because of the rapid rate of increase — 3.5% in the first three months of this year alone. He has not told me what he will do about it. I believe he is not doing anything. Will the Minister answer those questions?

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